AUBURN | It’s been 23 months since Yale played a baseball game.
That long layoff will certainly be tough to overcome in their season-opening series at Auburn this weekend, but it can also offer difficulties to the host team.
“The Ivy League didn’t play a game last year and they didn’t open last weekend,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “Our challenge is, can we really focus on ourselves? There is no way to get enough information going into this series against Yale like we have our first four opponents.”
Without the ability to build much of a scouting report on its opponent, Thompson will bring his team into this weekend’s three-game series with a back-to-the-basics plan.
“We just need to come out here and play some good baseball,” he said.
The Tigers have certainly been doing just that since an opening 3-0 loss to Oklahoma. AU has won three consecutive games, out-scoring its opponents 27-3.
Samford transfer Sonny DiChiara has led Auburn at the plate batting .636 with four doubles, one home run and four RBI. Blake Rambusch is hitting .412 with six runs scored and three stolen bases while Bryson Ware has a .222 average with a home runs and six RBI.
On the mound, AU leads the SEC allowing a .135 batting average against and is second in the conference with a 1.29 ERA.
This series will be another step in building the weekend rotation and defining the roles out of the bullpen. JUCO transfer Jordan Armstrong, who threw 4.0 innings of relief against the Sooners, will make his first-career start Friday.
The starters for the next two days will remain the same with Joseph Gonzalez Saturday and Trace Bright Sunday.
The three combined to allow just one unearned run in 14.0 innings last weekend. Thompson would like to see a repeat this weekend along with Carson Skipper and Blake Burkhalter to continue to perform in the backend of the bullpen.
“If Burkhalter and Skipper can get going and these three starters go out there and duplicate it, we’ll start believing in it a little bit,” Thompson said.
Game times for this weekend at Plainsman Park are set for 6 p.m. CT Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. All three games will be available on SECN+/ESPN+.
